If You're Listening
by Kora
Summary: fills in the gaps of ares on trial. explores the thoughts of hercules, jason and iolaus.


If You're Listening

_characters belong to renaissance pictures, lyrics belong to jimmy eat world._

_If you're listening_

_Whoa…_

No.  No, no, no, no.  It couldn't be true.  He refused to believe it.  Hercules was too strong, too fast, too smart…and what of the protection order?  Ares wouldn't dare….would he?  Iolaus felt his heard pound fast and hard, squeezed by a suffocating icy claw.  Jason continued to dive down into the depths of the lake, each time popping up only for air, without a certain blonde head.  The young prince was beginning to tire, Iolaus could see it.  His eyes pricked and stung.  Dejectedly he fell to his knees on the dock, gasping raggedly for breath.  _No._

_Sing it back_

_Oh…_

Maniacal laughter, tangy and tangible fear, blinding lights, cracking and splintering wood, crashes, explosions, blackness.  Lights, colors, smells, tastes and sounds swirled around and around in his semi-conscious world.   Suddenly, things spun faster and faster until they stopped abruptly.  The collage of half-awake thoughts disappeared, and was replaced by the real world, cold and hard.  Hercules sat up with a jolt.  "Whoa!"

_String from your tether unwinds_

_Up and outward but only to bind_

"NO!" Iolaus screamed, fighting against Jason's strong grip.  "No!  He's down there!  He needs my help!  Let me GO!"  

"Iolaus!" Jason shouted firmly, gently.  His tone softened.  "You can't swim.  You—"

"I don't care!"  Iolaus' struggles grew weaker as the sobs wracked his body.  "He—he needs me—I—" he slowly sank to the ground.  The restraint in Jason's arms melted into an embrace.  He drew Iolaus closer to him.  Iolaus, usually not one for any display of affection, was too filled with overwhelming grief and in need of comfort to protest.  Jason's own quiet sobs soon joined Iolaus' more adamant ones.  Their friend was dead.

_I was spinning free_

_With a little sweet and simple numbing me_

Hercules hoped that Iolaus and Jason didn't think he was dead.  Especially Iolaus.  It may seem strange to worry about anything while on Olympus, (though in this particular case it was actually a reason to worry more; he wasn't sure what exactly was going on yet) but he couldn't help it.  The last thing Hercules remembered was Ares standing over him in the flimsy little boat, and then there was a bright flash of light and a sickening crunch.

Whatever had happened, it couldn't have left good results.  He was fine, but the boat certainly wasn't, and that couldn't bode well for what Iolaus and Jason would wake up to find.  Hercules sighed and forced himself to focus on what was going on in front of him.  He needed to find answers, then wrap this up as quickly as possible so he could get back to Iolaus.  And Jason.

_Are you listening?_

_Whoa…_

With leaden feet, they trudged and stumbled back to the Academy.  Neither knew what he was going to say, but Jason knew that he was the one who was going to have to say it.  He glanced over at Iolaus.  Aside from the occasional sniffle, the hunter was forcing himself to contain his tears.  Iolaus' instinct, from growing up around his father, was never to show weakness.  And emotion was weakness.  But the red, puffy eyes, ragged, worn and pale features, and most of all the air of utter devastation testified to Iolaus' inability to tell, at least for the time, of what had happened. 

Though, Jason thought with another stab of pain, they might not have to say anything.  One look into Iolaus' eyes said clearly that Hercules was gone.

_Tell me what do I need_

_When the words lose their meaning_

Hercules couldn't believe it.  Ares was feigning innocence!  What's more, he wanted Hercules to defend him!  Hercules had seen Ares' hateful face with his own eyes, heard the mocking laughter ring in his ears.  But it was this certainty of Ares' guilt that kept Hercules from refusing to defend him…the options weren't pretty otherwise.  This didn't, however, make Hercules happy.  Ares claiming innocence meant a trial, and a trial meant time pointlessly wasted, time Hercules could be using to make sure Iolaus and the others were okay.

He sighed inwardly and turned his attention back to interviewing Discord.  "Where were you in the day in question?"  Alright, that was lame.  But it didn't matter, it got the point across.  All he had to do was muck through this for a little longer.  Then he could go home.

_Stumble until you crawl_

_Sinking into sweet uncertainty_

Jason spotted with worry the figure perched upon the courtyard wall.  It was Iolaus, still rather unstable, with a sword in his grip.  Who knew what he was going to do.  _'Hercules would,'_ Jason thought sorrowfully, despite himself.  He jogged out to the courtyard in time to catch the anguished, enraged screams that ripped from Iolaus' throat.

"COWARDS!  Come down and fight me!  You call yourselves gods?!  You sneak up and attack people without warning!  You're not gods!  You're just a bunch of stinking cowards!"

"Iolaus," Jason said, revealing his presence and hoping that he didn't sound reproachful.  He didn't want to prevent Iolaus from grieving in his own way, but if he kept up like that he'd get himself killed.  

Iolaus' shoulders drooped heavily and he sighed raggedly.  "Leave me alone, Jason."

Jason didn't know what to do.  He had to say something.  "It's—not your fault.  It's not our fault.  Ares…is a god.  There's nothing we could have done."  _'That was convincing,'_ Jason scolded himself.  Telling Iolaus something he knew neither of them believed wasn't going to console anyone.  But it was all he could think of. 

Iolaus hefted the sword in his hand, never moving his eyes form the patch of distance they'd fallen to.  "All I know is my friend needed me, and I was no help.  And now he's gone."  Iolaus' body exuded a tumult of emotions: anger, grief, sorrow, mourning, pain, rage…he needed more time alone.  With a pleading glance heavenward, Jason made his way inside the Academy.

_I'm still running away_

_I won't play your hide and seek game_

Discord was hiding something, Hercules could smell it.  She wasn't as dumb as she often pretended to be; beneath the backs of her eyes lurked a nervous spark.  If she didn't have anything to hide, she wouldn't be nervous.  Yet Discord nailed his questions and continued to play innocence easily.  There had to be something, he just needed to think.  How—Hercules stopped.  

He struggled to maintain his cool.  But he felt something; something was wrong.  A nagging, itching feeling increased in intensity each moment.  Iolaus, something was wrong with Iolaus.  Hercules needed to get back, he—

Hercules drummed his fingers on the side of Ares' chair.  The god of war shot a withering glace at him.  "What's wrong?" he hissed.  "She's lying, expose it; what do you think you're doing?!"

Hercules sent an equally scornful glower back.  He didn't need this…even if there was the slightest chance Ares was innocent…Hercules sighed and rubbed his face in his hands.  No.  He had to do the right thing.  Iolaus would be fine when he got back.  He had to be.

_What a dizzy dance_

_Oh…_

He couldn't do it.  Everywhere he looked he saw Hercules.  By that wall over there—that was where Hercules caught him not even two weeks after the Quest for the Golden Fleece, trying to escape.  Iolaus had been teased by the other cadets and couldn't, according to the former thief, possibly put up with "Fiddle Face's Snooze Sessions."  Hercules begged with him, pleaded with him, even attempted threatening (which was more like gently reminding) Iolaus that he was at the Academy on probation.

Iolaus wouldn't budge.  Hercules finally folded his arms across his chest, set his jaw back in his stubborn way, and obstinately declared that if Iolaus left, he would too.  Iolaus could throw his future away, but he couldn't do that to Hercules.  So he stayed.  But now Hercules was gone, so what was the point?  No, he was leaving.  Away from the memories, away from this life.  

"Iolaus...where are you going?"  A voice from behind interrupted Iolaus' thoughts.  Iolaus didn't even glance behind him.  Glancing back meant looking back, and looking back meant reconsidering.  He and Cheiron talked and Iolaus, despite himself, was touched by the centaur's caring and words.  Listening to Cheiron clop away, Iolaus squeezed his eyes shut against the onslaught of tears.

Cheiron was right, Hercules _would_ want him to stay.  Iolaus could almost feel the demigod's flustered anger, wherever he was, at his best friend's giving up on a future.  Iolaus sniffed at the tears, turned, and trudged back to sleeping quarters to reclaim his bunk.

_This sweetness will not be concerned with me_

"No way!  I laid you out, and I brought ya down, and I—"

Hercules managed to conceal his triumphant smirk in a small smile as Strife's eyes widened when the god realized his blunder.  Though Hercules' face communicated a mix of achievement and surprise, internally he was celebrating the fact that the case was finally over.  He could go home.  Hercules scarcely processed the remaining proceedings, though he'd grown rather apt a appearing as if he was paying attention.  _'I should teach this to Iolaus,'_ he thought fleetingly.  _'Then again, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea.'_

Thinking of Iolaus got Hercules worried again, and by now he hardly could keep himself from squirming.  The gods droned on and on, then disappeared.  Ares sauntered up to him and copped a typical Ares attitude, then left.  Everyone was leaving.  They seemed to have forgotten about him.  "And I thought I was the one this whole thing was supposed to be about," Hercules muttered.  "Uhh…hello?  Anyone there?  Can someone…send me home, please?"

_No, this sweetness will not be concerned with me_

"I hear you're staying with us."  Jason hid the relief from his voice, knowing that nonchalance was what Iolaus wanted.

"I just think it's what Hercules would have wanted, you know?"  Iolaus dropped down beside Jason on the well.  It wasn't going to be easy, especially at the beginning, but he _would_ graduate from the Academy.  For Hercules.

Jason glanced up.  It took every scrap of willpower and training he possessed to keep the relief and joy that suddenly flooded his limbs from coloring his voice and face.  "Could be.  Why don't you ask him yourself?"  With a jerk of his head, he indicated for Iolaus to look in the other direction.  The hunter did so.

***

Finally someone remembered him.  Without an apology or a thank you, he'd been sent from Olympus to a point about half a mile from the Academy.  "Thanks for the consideration," Hercules grumbled, anxious to get home.  He into a jog and kept up the pace until the Academy was in sight.

He then found himself slowing to a walk.  What was he going to say?  How was he going explain it all?  It was a long story…how long had he been gone?  The sun was setting, but was it the evening of the incident or the evening of some days after?

"Hercules?  Herc!" 

Hercules felt a grin spread across his face and a relieved laugh escape his lips.  Iolaus was okay.  And Jason was back there too, also fine.  Everything else would work out.  "I guess I'd be gone longer than I thought."  Hercules' grin broadened to see Iolaus shaken but recovering, and Jason unconsciously suppressing a larger display of emotion for a kingly glad but cool.  Hercules had just one thing left to worry about before he could completely relax.  "You weren't worried about me, were you?"

"I knew you were coming back."

Hercules smiled to himself.  That meant, 'of course I was worried but you'll never get me to admit it, and things are okay now so let's just go back to normal.'  Hercules sighed contentedly.  Yes, things were back to normal.

_No, this sweetness will not be concerned with me_

The End

_Okay…I know it's not the best or anything…but I tried and this is how it came out.  Hopefully 'twasn't a waste of anyone's time…lalala…well, g'night everyone!_


End file.
